Nearly every respondent to a recent survey offered by State Representative Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) about the Cook County sweetened beverage tax has expressed their opposition to the new tax.

Morrison has been a vocal opponent to the tax and recently offered his constituents an opportunity to participate in a survey to gauge the popularity of the sweetened beverage tax. “People are very unhappy about this latest attempt by Cook County to take additional money out of the pockets of people who live there,” said Morrison. “I had 269 responses to my survey, and all but two expressed their opposition to the tax. It’s an overwhelming mandate that the tax be repealed.”

According to Morrison, Cook County Commissioners have felt mounting pressure since the implementation of the tax a few months ago, and it appears many who originally supported the tax are now responding to the public pressure to repeal it. “The Cook County Board Finance Committee is voting today to recommend the repeal of the tax and the full board could take final action to repeal it as soon as Wednesday, October 11,” Morrison said. “A full repeal is the appropriate course of action and would result in the removal of the one cent per ounce tax on sweetened beverages as of December 1 of this year.”